Matadors Struggling for First Victory

Two weeks ago, Cal State Northridge women’s soccer Coach Brian Wiesner said his team would focus first on winning games in the first-year Big Sky Conference.

“If we win only five games all season and all of them are in the Big Sky, that’s great because that means the [nonconference] competition we played was a perfect setup,” Wiesner said.

Fast-forward to Monday, when Wiesner, his team 0-4, was asked what was up.

“My blood pressure,” said Wiesner, whose team opens conference play at Portland State on Friday. “We’ve played a lot of good minutes but the bad ones have killed us.”

Sunday, the Matadors lost to UC Irvine, 4-1, and surrendered all four goals in a 15-minute span of the second half. The team is plagued by a lack of standout talent and injuries. With no natural goal-scorers and only one senior, the Matadors may be lucky to win five matches, in or out of conference play.

“We’re not rolling over,” Wiesner said. “We just need to play a full 90 minutes.”

High Price: Former Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball Coach John Price has cracked the top five at his new job as women’s coach at Cal State Bakersfield.

Bakersfield has started the season 4-0 and is No. 5 on the AVCA Division II poll. The team was ranked sixth in the preseason poll.